Darkness and Clarity
by Nieddu
Summary: Italy isn't the same after that fateful day. Have you ever met someone as sadistic and cruel as him now? Seychelles doubts it... Now, she's stuck with him, someone that isn't even the shadow of what he once was... It's as if he was a total different person. Hetalia AU. There's references to the 2ps, but no real appearances. Rating may change. Please comment so I can improve further


Hey, guys! Another thing that couldn't get out of my head… It has romance this time. The pairing (as you could see) is N. Italy x Seychelles. Weird, huh? Well, even if it is a total crack-ish pairing I do enjoy seeing these two together :D I think that some actually think the same, considering there are other stories with these two being love birds in it~

However, this will not be pure fluff. I am warning you, the 2ps do have a part in this story as well (yeah, I know, I am obsessed), though not as you would expect…

Enough of this, just read!

~Nieddu

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Disclaimer: The day I own Hetalia is the day when we meet Barney in real life :P And that hopefully (for my sanity's sake) that won't happen any time soon.

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**Chapter 1: Do you really know what lurks in the dark?**

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"_I saw the fog grow thick,  
Which soon made blind my ken;  
It made tall men of boys,  
And giants of tall men._

_It clutched my throat, I coughed;_  
_Nothing was in my head_  
_Except two heavy eyes_  
_Like balls of burning lead._

_And when it grew so black_  
_That I could know no place,_  
_I lost all judgment then,_  
_Of distance and of space."_

Extract from The Fog by William H Davies

* * *

Michelle Mancham was the only girl that came from Seychelles in the entire institute, Gakuen Hetalia. You couldn't possibly mistaken her once you knew the general features of the girl: her sun-kissed skin, the two pony tails she always wore, her brown-hazel eyes that always transmitted some kind of positive energy… and of course, her obsession with short skirts and dresses. Easily pointed-out in middle of a multitude, everyone could tell her apart and approach her without problems.

That included the air-headed Italian, best known as Feliciano Vargas, that had pounced on her in middle of the hallway. That was the reason why they were now on the floor, him topping her while she stared at the ceiling, trying to pierce together what happened in the last five seconds before she had hit the ground.

The only clear thing she distinguished was the pain emerging from the back of her head.

"Bella~!" Feliciano cheered, beaming at her without any awareness of her painful state. "Ve~ We have to get home together, you promised, remember?" Either he didn't catch that she had landed awfully hard or he just was slow…

"Ugh, Feli?" She questioned, narrowing her eyes to focus them. If he was indeed the Italian then she couldn't snap like she wanted to. It would be a grave mistake.

"Sì, bella?" The innocent curl-bearer answered with another question. She looked at him, stopping for a second when she spotted his wide open hazel eyes. His handsome features were completely his as well, taking also into account that flawless curl that kept bouncing with each motion he made. And there weren't any curses coming her way… Not Roma then, just Feli.

"…" She sighed, "Please get up so I can stand?" If you demanded something from him you had to be gentle, otherwise a storm of tears would come out from his eyes and soon enough you would have an ill-mannered brother, a displeased German and an awkward Japanese banging on your door, asking for explanations. That if you didn't count that disturbingly loud albino and Elizabeta.

Normally, this wouldn't be such a pain, but she had gone through a hard day and she was in no mood to talk to anyone today. That bastard from England and the frog from France had such a harsh impact on her, yes. And you couldn't blame her: she had been sexually assaulted (not literally, just in a certain French's way…), told off without any good reason for approximately one whole hour, which should have been used to discuss what on earth would the three do in the Biology exposition that would take place in a week .

Ha! As if…!

"Sure!" He responded, grinning and all smiles. He enthusiastically lifted himself off her and offered her his hand. She gawked at it for a moment before taking it hesitantly. He was not one to be so thoughtful about the others… but she got to admit it was a likable change. Her lips curled.

"Thanks," She nodded in appreciation, not missing the blush taking over all Feliciano's face. Her eyes lightened up in surprise, eying him as he fidgeted in place.

"P-Prego…" He stuttered in Italian, a goofy grin coming over his features, his smile so big that his cheeks obscured his eyes. "So! We are going home together, right? Right?" He jumped up and down several times in the typical childish way of his.

His excitement was really contagious, "Sure," The Seychellois practically agreed almost instantly, her cheeks heating up just a bit. "Just wait a bit here while I get my things!"

"Ah!" Feliciano reached for her holder and stopped her on her tracks. "I also have my bag over there so I'll go-"

"Oh, don't worry! I'll bring it to you too!" Michelle exclaimed, ignorant of his true intentions as she waved she started trotting away from him. "Wait here! I'll be back in three-four minutes more or less!"

"V-Ve… Okay!" The Italian mumbled as he watched her disappear around the corner. A couple of steps resounded instants after, a rather reluctant-looking individual emerging from the classroom next to the Italian. The person was almost an exact replica of the other person, if you left out that his hair was just a shade darker and his eye color was a bright green, of course. This meant one thing: either a clone machine was invented that day and it had successfully created one that at least resembled the curl bearer or… Romano had just walked out from his class. The last option seemed more possible. If anyone had picked the other possibility, well then. That would have been a huge twist in the story.

"You better ask her out today, idiota," Lovino grumbled under his breath, making his brother start at his sudden apparition, "Date, fuck with her and then stop being so damn lovesick all the goddamn time because I don't want to hear another of those damn sighs you always make when you think about her," Wow, he was in a dark mood, that's for sure.

"B-But, fratello! I can't just do that! … A-And how do you know-?"

"Because you are so damn obvious, you bastard! You always whisper: 'Michelle this, Michelle that'! Who wouldn't notice that you are her damn puppy already, huh?! With those fucking eyes you always give her, huh?! Always glancing in her direction… " His terrible wrath threatened to reach Feliciano as his brother continued to rant out all his piled up frustrations at all that lovesick nonsense he had been witnessing since the beginning of that year. "You even mumble her name in your fucking sleep! I would have to be fucking blind and deaf not to see this!"

"I am sorry! I didn't know that I was that annoying! Just please don't hit me, fratello!" Tears pricking at the corner of his eyes and body quivering, the younger of the Italians begged from mercy from the other, sincerely thinking that Romano would whack him on his head, or even worst… headbutt him like he did with Antonio during his childhood.

The green-eyed teen groaned, "I am not going to hit you, idiot!" He ran his hand through his hair to let out his frustration without being overly violent. "I am just telling you that you will confess today!"

"B-But…"

"No 'but's!" Romano exploded, a vein popping in his forehead. "Shit will get real if you return home without telling her how you feel! If that happens I am definitely going kick your ass and then move out from our damn house until you do so!"

"F-Fratello!" The Nord Italian started to tear up. Lovino noticed that and froze in his spot, abruptly acknowledging how far he had gone this time. This was not, not good at all! "I don't want that to happen!"

"T-Then y-you better do it!" He was such a coward, running away instead of comforting his now disturbed brother… It was pathetic… He was pathetic… He shook furiously his head as he sprinted out of the hallway. Damn it all!

~O~

Something was wrong with Feliciano in the way back home, Seychelles noted as she eyed him with worry. His back was slouched and his head was practically hanging from his neck. Hell, even his curl seemed to be lower than usual! What in the world had him in such depressed state? Was it the suspicious absence of his brother in that little trip or that he had somehow gotten into a quarrel with Ludwig in such a short time span?!

"Hm, Feli…? Did you hear what I just said?"

"Ah, sì! The weather is beautiful bella! It's really nice out, right?" A half-felt laughter escaped the Italian's lips, no hint of the usual cheeriness he possessed. Honestly, that made it even more clearer that he wasn't alright.

"Actually," Michelle sweatdropped, pointing up to the grey sky, "It's about to rain, Feli... What's got you so under the weather, hm?"

His head snapped in her direction, his walking turning frenetic in a second. The Seychellois actually had to keep up with his pace, "W-What are you talking about? There is nothing wrong, v-ve~!"

Chelles shook her head immediately, "Lies. Feli, please tell what's wrong," She stopped in middle of the road, waiting for him to do the same and then locked her eyes with his closed ones, hopefully transmitting how serious she was in that moment. "I don't like it when you are like this! I like it when you smile! Like this!" The Seychellois brought two of her fingers to each sides of her mouth, pulling them up in order to imitate a blissful smile. "Or like this!" She poked her nose upwards, her features turning more moronic and comedic than before.

That got him, "I don't smile like that!" Feliciano laughed, his eyes just barely showing under the cover of his eyelids.

"Are you sure that you don't?" She smirked, walking over to him and rearranging his facial features with her fingers. "You look like you do to me~!"

"Ve~! That's not fair!" The bad mood was completely abolished by now and only the happiness that came with this child-play stayed in place. This was the true form of their wonderful relationship. The form that the Italian loved with all his heart.

Butterflies played with his stomach as they both gazed at each other, his eyes being uncovered now. Her face was so distracting... No, delighting. She was truly one of the most beautiful women he had ever met. The curl bearer was actually attracted to her... to the point that he might even love her. On the spur of the moment, he suddenly felt a weird impulse. I was now or never, his mind thought as Feliciano grabbed one of Michelles hands, his grip tightening when he realized what he intended to do in that moment.

"Feli, what-?"

"Bella... You asked why I was depressed, right?" He timidly asked, his face reaching a shade of powerful red as he glaced at her face again.

Michelle smiled, though this was a smile that hinted a bit of nervousness, "Yeah, I did!"

"My fratello told me today that-" The face of the female transformed itself into a scowl at the name. What in the world had that guy done to his brother again?! "I-I should confess to the ragazza I love today!" He finished, his tone a bit louder because of the added uneasiness that provoked Michelle's expression. Some people around them turned to see what the commotion was about as the girl blinked in surprise, her cheeks similar to Rudolph's nose even before her mind processed what he had said.

"O-Oh!" She simply stuttered, "A-And you managed to tell her?" Maybe the depression was because he was turned down by that girl? Her heart somehow felt more heavy as she waited for his answer.

"N-No... V-Ve~ ... A-Actually, I-I was going to do that now," Feliciano Vargas murmured, closing the space between them. The Italian could have been set in fire and he wouldn't have felt it. He was aware of everything: of the people giggling at the lovebirds scene, of the fact that he could actually feel her body heat from this proximity, of the fact that her lips were barely parted in her repressed curiosity...

"Y-You were...?" She whispered, her eyes seemingly just as glazed over than his as she too closed the distance between them.

"S-Sì..." Just centimetres away... and they would...

From afar, a trio and Romano spied on them, cheering them on from behind the bushes.

"Ohonhonhon~ Ita-chan is going to get some!" France wolf-whistled, the binoculars over his eyes to get a close view.

"Hey, let the awesome me see!"

"Por favor Francia, hand over the binoculars!" The Spaniard wailed, the three struggling to get a hold of the peeping device.

"Stupidi bastardi..." Romano grumbled, glancing over in the couples's direction. He could see them just fine from there, just how stupid and perveted they were? Refusing to see how they exchanged saliva, the older Italian glanced upwards, intending to stare at the sky had not anything happened in that moment.

Something in the appartment that he was gazing at burned all of the sudden. Romano stumbled and fell to the ground in his shock. The ball of fire was not big enough to attract attention of anyone now, but the more the flames licked the interiors of the appartment, the more apparent was the danger.

And the damn love-struck idiots were just standing the street beneath that very appartment!

~O~

Michelle up to this day doesn't know the sequence of events that happened in that fateful day. One moment she was there standing beneath an incoming fireball and the next she was tossed over the floor, barely conscious of the fact that four voices had started to shriek in desperation from afar. Something snapped. All the people around them panicked and created a high-scale ruckus that went from completely hysterical to just disbelief.

But she was just there, staring at the lifeless hand sticking out from undeneath that ridiculously huge object set on fire. The rest of the body was caught under that massive thing.

Michelle couldn't possibly stop gawking at the tons of blood that were oozing off the body.

Sirens were heard. A white van came into the scene along with a colossal pure crimson one, both having their very own lights and sounds. Soon, there were more of them and this time another kind of van joined the party. It was a rare mix of black and white.

Someone helped her stand up midst some shouting. Later she knew that Lovino had indeed been the one to haul her up from the floor, but at the moment she just didn't care. She gawked, stared and looked fixedly at the scene before her.

... That wasn't Feliciano, that couldn't be him!

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_"Struggling to keep_  
_my head up,_  
_to breathe,_  
_to keep from drowning out at sea."_

_"I fear that one day_  
_it very well might consume me._  
_When that day comes_  
_know it was not your fault,_  
_but mine."*_

_"I'm fading into the night I'm fading into nothing,_  
_I'm being possessed by someone or something,_  
_traces of my existence have been erased and faded,_  
_completely wiped out and obliterated."**_

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*Extracts from Drowning by Su1c1dal (can be found in Quizilla)

** Extract from Obliterated (fading) by xxxblackrosexxx123 (found in the same page)

I don't own any of these poems. Please go congratulate them on their work if you wish.


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